Grain-elevator



M. .s. w NBALL.

Grain-Elevator. No. 227,820. Patented May 18, 1880.

FIG Z.

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INVENTO WITNESSES I xi PE ERS, PKOTmUTMOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D, G

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE- SAMUEL W. NEALL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

GRAIN -ELEVATORr SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 227,820, dated May 18, 188 0.

Application filed April '7, 1880. (No model.)

other trunk; and my invention consists in making the lower part of the elevator where the two trunks meet movable, so that it can be readily lowered, when, owing to defective buckets or other causes, it becomes surcharged with grain, accidents to the belt and buckets, or to the mechanism for operating the belt being thus obviated.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is an exterior view of the lower portion of a grain-elevator with my improvement; Fig. 2, a vertical section of Fig. 1 Fig. 3, a sectional plan 5 Fig. 4, a view representing a modification of my invention, and Fig. 5 a perspective view of partof Fig. 4.

A is the vertical and A the inclined trunk of a grain-elevator, these trunks being of the usual quadrangular form and being secured at their lower ends to a suitable foundation on or near a wharf where the vessel for receivin g the grain may be moored.

An endless belt, B, traverses the trunks in the course pointed out by the arrow, passes round a pulley, D, at or nearthe bottom of the elevator and round the usual larger pulley at the top of the same, buckets a being secured to the belt at appropriate intervals 0 for receiving the grain which passes down the chute G. The grain elevated by the buckets is discharged therefrom at the top of the elevator into a spout, whence the grain is directed into the hold of the vessel below.

The above description will apply to grainelevators now in use; hence it has not been deemed necessary to show more of the said elevator than that to which. my improvement relates.

tion as not to receive its proper amount of grain from the chute G, in which case the interior of the shield H becomes so surcharged with grain that there must be an excessive strain on the belt and on those buckets which have to pass through the grain which is packed in the shield.

Often before the motion of the belt can be arrested and before the relief of the shield from the grain by withdrawing the latter through a side opening can be accomplished much damage is done to the belt or some of the buckets, or to the driving-gear, and even when the movement of the belt is arrested before much damage can be done there must be much delay before the interior or the shield can be relieved.

In order to overcome these difficulties I make the shield movable, so that it can be readily depressed whenever it is surcharged with grain, the chamber for the grain being thereby enlarged and the buckets and belt freed from undue strain, thus permitting the belt to continue its movement until the defective bucket reaches a convenient opening in the trunk, where it can be repaired or abandoned for a new bucket, after which the belt can be again put in motion and the shield can be gradually raised, so that the buckets will gradually remove the surplus grain from the shield.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the shield is hinged at av to the frame-work of the lower portion'of the elevator, and to an extension, h, of the shield is connected one arm of a lever, M, by operating which the said shield may be raised and lowered at pleasure.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4 the shield is disconnected from the frame-work of the elevator and can be raised or lowered by turning a shaft, w, pinions on which gear into guided racks v, projecting upward one from each side of the shield, as shown in Fig. 5.

I claim as my invention- The combination, in a grain-elevator, of the 5 trunks A A and belt-pulley D with a shield, H, made adjustable from and toward the said pulley, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signedvmy name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

SAMUEL W. NEALL.

Witnesses:

JAMES F. ToBIN, HARRY SMITH. 

